Assessment of social and economic impacts of transport policy

In 2011 the EU has launched a new White Paper on Transport, "Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area - Towards a Competitive and Resource Efficient Europe". The White Paper was accompanied by an Impact Assessment. The results were model based to a large extent. Social impacts were not included or quantified. This was the base for the ASSIST project. This project had as a goal to provide the EU with advice on the possible social and economic impacts of transport policies that have been applied in the EU, the Member States or in other countries in the past or are planned to be applied in the future. The results of the project are two-fold: 1) a Handbook on the Social and Economic Impacts of Transport Policy and 2) a policy instrument, ASTRA-EC, which helps policy makers to assess different transport policies. In this paper we will elaborate on the results of the ASSIST project and draw some conclusions and make some recommendations.